18 



The Florists^ Review 



Jakvary 2, 1919. 



BOSTON. 



The Market. 



Extraordinary conditions prevailed in 

 the market the first Christmas after the 

 close of the great war. There was a 

 marked shortage of cut flowers, with 

 remarkably high prices. As a conse- 

 quence plants were pushed more than 

 ever and the remarkable feature of the 

 last holiday was the increased favor 

 shown plants by buyers. All the plant 

 specialists sold out well ahead of Christ- 

 mas and had to refuse numerous orders. 

 Easily the leader among flowering plants 

 was the cyclamen and Boston never had 

 so many well flowered specimens of it 

 before, many thousands being disposed 

 of in pots from four and five inches in 

 diameter up to 14-inch tubs. Begonias 

 had big sales, especially Cincinnati and 

 Melior; the old Lorraine proved less 

 popular, but Mrs. Peterson sold well. 



Poinsettias, thanks to the warm 

 weather, never sold better. Euphorbia 

 jacquiniseflora proved popular and prim- 

 ulas, ardisias, solanums, peppers, Erica 

 melanthera, camellias, azaleas, of which 

 a fair number were available, freesias, 

 colored-leaved plants, indeed, everything 

 in the plant line sold splendidly and 

 the holiday set a new high record in 

 plant sales. 



As to cut flowers, the warm weather 

 favored the growers. When we remem- 

 ber the severe weather in December, 

 1917, and compare that season with the 

 present one, we see that the supply of 

 flowers this year was fully three-fourths 

 that of a year ago. The high prices, of 

 course, frightened many would-be buy- 

 ers, but supplies easily sold out and 

 practically everyone had to cut down 

 orders or refuse them. Boses sold re- 

 markably well. Select American Beau- 

 ties made $18 per dozen and extra fine 

 Hadleys $12, a good many realizing $6 

 to $8 per dozen. Ophelia was in great 

 demand and made up to $50. Bussell, 

 next to Hadley, realized the highest 

 price of all the hybrid teas. Stanley 

 and Columbia each sold well. Many 

 items were off crop and reds were scar- 

 cer than usual. On short-stemmed stock 

 prices were from $12 up. Carna- 

 tions sold well until December 24, when 

 a considerable quantity of held-back 

 stock arrived, for which growers asked 

 $16 to $20, which retailers refused to 

 pay. As a consequence, prices broke and 

 a good many flowers went as low as $6 

 to $8. Christmas morning sales were 

 made at $10 to $15; a small number only 

 sold above the $15 mark. Violets were 

 scarce and sold at $3 to $."), the highest 

 price for them ever recorded here. Sweet 

 peas were not abundant at $2 to $4. 



Of pansies a good number appeared, 

 but not a fraction of what were needed. 

 They made $2 to $4. A supply of freesia 

 appeared, selling at $8 to $10 per hun- 

 dred. Marguerites made as high as $6 

 and mignonette, $8 to $12. Only small 

 lots of Paper Whites came and no daf- 

 fodils or tulips. There was a great call 

 for callas at $24 to $30 per hundred. 

 Lilies went slowly at $20 to $25. Cat- 

 tleyas were in tolerably good supply 

 and a fair supply of other orchids was 

 available. Asparagus went sluggishly, 

 owing to the scarcity and high prices of 

 flowers. Greenery, such as boxwood, 

 holly, laurel, hemlock, etc., sold out 

 clean. 



Prices since Christmas remain high. 

 Short-stemmed roses are realizing $10 

 to $12 and carnations $10 to $12. There 

 is also little drop in prices of violets, 



callas, lilies and other flowers, due to 

 the continued heavy call for funeral 

 work. The influenza is still with us and 

 Boston reports 300 to 450 new cases 

 daily, of a milder form, however, than 

 in September and October. 



Various Notes. 



John T. Gale, of Tewksbury, had a 

 splendid lot of marguerites for Christ- 

 mas and cleaned up the last of his mums 

 at high prices. He is picking a fine 

 crop of Spencer sweet peas. 



Henry M. Robinson & Co. report a 

 satisfactory Christmas, although they 

 had to refuse many orders for flowers. 

 They have had a large call for wax 

 flowers of late to replace natural flow- 

 era. Christmas greenery sold out clean. 



The roses of the Budjong Rose Co., of 

 Auburn, R. I., were in light crop for 

 the holidays and this firm had only a 

 small nilmber of reds, but Stanley, 

 Ophelia and Columbia realized high 

 prices. 



Frank Wheeler, salesman at the Co- 

 operative Market for his father, has 

 been passing cigars. This makes his 

 second boy, born December 26 and 

 thriving finely. 



B. A. Snyder states that business with 

 his firm was better than ever this Christ- 

 mas. He enthuses over the Chicago 

 wholesale market and the numerous 

 long-distance buyers met there. 



Donald Carmichael, of Wellesley, hit 

 the market right with a fine crop of 

 mignonette, carnations and calendulas 

 for the holidays. 



James Lister, of Stoneham, had a 

 nice cut of Erica melanthera, which has 

 been used a great deal here in funeral 

 work of late, and of stevia for Christ- 

 mas. 



Peter Jansen, of Norfolk Downs, and 

 Miss Washington, of North Stoughton, 

 had large Christmas cuts of freesia. 

 Miss Washington also had calendulas of 

 fine quality. 



Hadley, Ophelia and Russell roses of 

 remarkable quality came from the Wa- 

 ban Conservatories, Natick, and from 

 the Hadley establishment of the Mont- 

 gomery Co. They realized the highest 

 price of all roses in the local market. 



Frank Edgar says he never experi- 

 enced such a demand for poinsettias as 

 for the last Christmas. He had, among 

 other plants, a fine lot of large-flowered 

 cinerarias and has a large batch coming 

 on for late winter blooming. He will 

 try Delphinium Belladonna as a pot 

 plant for next Easter. 



Charles T. Beasley says, while he sold 

 more pansies than a year ago, he could 

 have sold treble the number. He will 

 grow Canterbury bells and sweet peas 

 in one large house he has empty at pres- 

 ent. 



Thomas Hiffe, one of Daniel Iliffe's 

 sons, in active service in France, states 

 in a recent letter that Fathers' day was 

 celebrated there November 24 and 

 many flowers used. In the United 

 States Fathers' day, so far, seems to be 

 considered a joke. 



At both the stores of T. F. Galvin, 

 Inc., a record Christmas trade in plants 

 was done. Among cut flowers at the 

 Park street store were noted some hand- 

 some cymbidiums, vandas, Iselias and 

 cattleyas. 



Recent visitors included Paul A. Win- 

 ter, representing Sutton & Sons, Eng- 

 land, and F. C. Green, superintendent 

 of parks, Providence, now well con- 

 valesced from a serious illness. 



The seventh annual convention of the 



New England Nurserymen 's Association 

 will be held at the Hotel Bellevue, Bos- 

 ton, January 28 and 29, 1919. A splen- 

 did program has been arranged, which 

 should interest growers greatly. Able 

 speakers will discuss important topics. 

 Among the more important are the 

 "Proposed Quarantine on the Importa- 

 tion of Nursery Stock," "New Rules 

 Affecting Transportation," and "New 

 Laws Relating to the Distribution of 

 Nursery Stock in Interstate Com- 

 merce." The last named will be dis- 

 cussed by Curtis Nye Smith, of Boston, 

 counsel for the American Association 

 of Nurserymen. 



Of interest to the general public will 

 be an illustrated lecture, "How Can 

 we Make New England More Fruitful 

 and Beautiful?" Another timely topic 

 will be "New Ornamentals of Real 

 Merit Nurserymen Should Grow," by 

 William H. Judd, of the Arnold Arbore- 

 tum. As a result of the war and new 

 legislation, changes have come to the 

 nursery trade and under new conditions 

 it will be necessary to grow a wider 

 range of hardy trees, shrubs and plants 

 to take the place in some measure of 

 those previously imported. All inter- 

 ested growers will be welcomed to the 

 meetings. 



Henry Penn states that business with 

 his firm ran thirty-five per cent ahead 

 of 1917 for Christmas. Unusually mild 

 weather greatly facilitated deliveries 

 and customers unwilling to purchase cut 

 flowers at existing high rates turned to 

 plants, of which there was fortunately 

 an excellent supply of unusually high 

 quality. 



The sensation among scarlet carna- 

 tions for the Christmas trade was Peter 

 Fisher's Red Cross. This variety com- 

 pletely outclasses Beacon and will bear 

 watching. Mr. Fisher has some 700 

 plants at Ellis, where he is operating 

 this year only two houses for the local 

 trade, but at the range of the Arnold- 

 Fisher Co., Woburn, 10,000 plants are 

 growing. This variety will be shown 

 at the Cleveland convention. It will 

 not be introduced this winter, Mr. Fish- 

 er believing in giving all novelties a 

 thorough try-out first. 



Many of those who have attended 

 the annual club picnics at Cunningham 

 park. East Milton, will learn with deep 

 regret of the death of Mrs. George Simp- 

 son, wife of the superintendent, on 

 Christmas day, after a brief illness with 

 influenza. Mrs. Simpson was most hos- 

 pitable and at each annual picnic "en- 

 deavored in every way to make it pleas- 

 ant for the ladies. Funeral services 

 were held December 28 and were large- 

 ly attended. Among the many floral 

 tributes was one from the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club of Boston. Mrs. 

 Simpson was in her fifty-eighth year. 



Thomas Roland's establishment at 

 Nahant was swept clear of practically 

 every salable plant. Stock here was 

 never in finer condition. At Revere the 

 rose houses were in good crop and prices 

 realized were the best ever. 



It was an ideal season for poinsettias. 

 The mildness of the weather made them 

 sell as never before. John McFarland, 

 of North Easton, had a large house of 

 splendid plants which easily sold out. 

 Other growers report equally satisfac- 

 tory sales. 



Peter Pederzini, of Medfield, is re- 

 covering from a severe attack of in- 

 fluenza. Both Charles S. Strout and 

 wife, of Biddeford, Me., are at present 

 sick with this disease. W. N. 0. 



